Fort Frederick:
King Rajasinghe plans to oust Portuguese invaders
by K.D. Jayasekara

A view of Fort Frederick
|
Legend has it that King Rajasinghe II who ruled this country for 52
years (1635-1687) built a fort in Trincomalee.
There was the general belief that Fort Frederick was originally built
by King Rajasinghe. King Rajasinghe wanted to build a fort in
Trincomalee with a view to driving away the menacing Portuguese. But by
that time the Portuguese had already built a small fort at the hillock
where the present Fort Frederick now stands.
King Rajasinghe wanted to get rid of the Portuguese at any cost and
later was compelled to seek the assistance of the Dutch to expel the
Portuguese.
The Portuguese built a fort in Trincomalee in 1623 while King
Senarath was ruling the country from Kandy. The Dutch made a treaty with
the King as far back as 1612 and were allowed to build a fort at
Koddiyar (Mutur), but the Portuguese who were in command of Trincomalee
destroyed the partly built fort.
It was thereafter that in 1623, the Portuguese built a fort in
Trincomalee which was earlier known as Fort Trinkenemalle. A Dutch
officer in a letter to Governor General Anthonio Van Diemon dated 31st
December, 1638 has mentioned that Trincomalee is a fort build rather
strongly of hard stones from an old pagoda round the hillock. On each
side there is a sandy and rocky bay and it is like a peninsula.
King Rajasinghe was most anxious to drive out the foreigners and
while he hated the Portuguese he did not have any love for the Dutch
too. King Rajasinghe's predecessors had sought the assistance of the
Dutch to expel the Portuguese, but King Rajasinghe wanted to do it
without the assistance of another European nation and he wanted to build
a fort in Trincomalee to attack the Portuguese holed up in Fort
Trincomalee.
The Portuguese were finally expelled from the country in 1658.
An Archaeological Department officer, a few years back visited Fort
Ostenburg located within the Naval Dockyard and identified it as the
Fort originally built by King Rajasinghe. It appears that while King
Rajasinghe was building a fort on the Ostenburg hill the Dutch had
approached him and offered their service to the King to expel the
Portuguese.
At that period every European nation was trying to build up a
commercial monopoly in this country. King Rajasinghe gave up the
construction of the fort and it was left uncompleted.
The architecture of Fort Ostenburg appears to be more Asian in
comparison to the architecture of the Kandyan era. It appears that King
Rajasinghe never used this fort though later the Dutch made use of it to
save their souls from the invading British. Fort Ostenburg built on the
peak of Ostenburg ridge is now hidden among a heavy undergrowth and is
unknown. Except for some of the elders who had served under the navy now
among the present generation have heard of this fort.
The Dutch managed to expel the Portuguese assisted by the Sinhala
army, but the Dutch proved to be no better than the Portuguese. For the
Sinhalese it was falling out of the frying pan to the fire.
The Dutch who felt secure having expelled the Portuguese demolished
the Trincomalee Fort. It should be noted that Fort Frederick which was
then known as Fort Trincomalee by the Portuguese was much smaller in
size before the Dutch expanded it to the present size and named it
Pagoda Hill. It was the British who named it after Frederick Augustus
Duke of York and Albany, second son of King George III.
The Trincomalee Fort which was captured by the Dutch in 1640 from the
Portuguese was dismantled on 20th April that year as they felt well
secured. But in 1658 when rumours of French and British expansion in the
East reached here the Dutch who were controlling the coastal areas
re-fortified both the Trincomalee Fort and the Koddiyar Fort.In 1671,
the French arrived in Trincomalee. Apart from improvements to Fort
Trincomalee (present Fort Frederick) and provision for five bastions the
Dutch also restored Fort Ostenburg (then known as Osnaburg) to commend
the inner anchorage.
The British who were then at war with Holland and France were making
plans to capture Trincomalee with the object of expanding the British
East India Company's territory and command of the Eastern World.On
January 5, 1782 British troops landed at Back Bay and captured Fort
Trincomalee by surprise.
Most men of the dutch garrison bolted to Fort Ostenburg. Three days
later Admiral Edward Hughes called the Dutch to surrender and he sent
the summons through his Chief Engineer Major Gells who carried out an
excellent reconnaissance and later suggested that another summons to
surrender might be sent so that he could have another 'look see'.
The British then attacked Fort Ostenburg, but managed to capture a
hill 300 yards from the fort. The next day the British entered through
the lower fort loosing one officer and 20 men while two officers and 40
men were wounded.
The British captured the fort with nine officers and 350 men - 60
Chinese and Malays under captivity. They also captured 62 guns from the
two forts.
Fort Ostenburg has not been of much importance as Fort Frederick from
where the Europeans commanded the entire East. Fort Ostenburg had been
mostly used as a residence for the commanding officers of the garrison
prior to take over by the British who completely ignored it after the
country was ceded to Great Britain in 1802. It is said that the Dutch
had underground quarters for the officers who commanded Trincomalee.
The British finally captured Trincomalee on August 26, 1795 and in
1800 there were 50 guns in Fort Ostenburg. It appears that both the
Dutch and British had made good use of the fort which was originally
built by King Rajasinghe, but not mentioned that fact in any of the
annuls. A Sinhala verse described the event thus.
Male, male thembiliya venna pol male
Rale, rale muhuden damana diya rale
Bale, bale Rasing Deviyange bale
Gale Kotuva bendai Tirikuna Male
The location where Fort Ostenburg stands was later used by the
British Admiralty as a wireless station during the Second World War. |